Switch mechanism.



No. 777,512. PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904;

G. E. IRWIN & W. A. BENNETT SWITCH MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 6, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

I 21 2/921 tors 5/ MM Mau- No. 777,512. PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904.

' C. E. IRWIN & W. A. BENNETT.

SWITCH MECHANISM.

APPLIGATION FILED APB.- a, 1904.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Int/anions: UZarenceE.IrwI;n,

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No. reams.

UNITE STATES Patented December 13, 1904.

prion.

CLARENCE E. IRWIN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, AND WILLIAM A.

BENNETT, OF EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.

SWlTtftH MECHANIBWI.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,512, dated December 13, 1904:.

Application filed April 6, 1904;.

T0 (LU whom [it 11141. concern Be it known that we, CLARENCE E. IRWIN, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, and WILLIAM A. BENNETT, residing at East St. Louis, l.llinois, citizens of the United States, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Switch Mechanisms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan View of the switch. Fig. 2 is an enlarged top plan View with the cover of the box removed, the parts being shown by full lines in one position and by dotted lines in the opposite position. Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly in section, on about the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. a is an elevation, partly in section, on about the line A. 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an elevation, partly in section, on about the line 5 5 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 6 is a view of the character of Fig. 2 and showing a modified arrangement of the parts.

This invention relates to switch mechanisms.

Our object is to provide a simple and efiicient structure which can be employed for throwing a switch and firmly holding the same in a desired position, it being possible by a slight adjustment of the parts to cause the switch to be firmly held in one position and to be automatically returned to such position, although the switch can yield to permit the passage of trains in one direction.

To these ends and also to improve generally upon mechanisms of the character indicated the invention consists in the various matters hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, A indicates a rail; B, a second rail which diverges "from the first rail; a, the usual guard-rail, and U the switch or point rail adapted to cooperate with the rails A and B in a manner which will be readily apparent and is well understood. Suitably secured in position, as by being bolted at the side of the rail A, is the box D, containing the switchoperating mechanism.

Serial No. 201,898. (No model.)

Pivoted upon a suitable post 1 or other support within the box is a lever 2, to which is pivoted the switch-rod 3, the outer end oi. this rod being suitably connected to the point-rail C, as indicated in Fig. 4, so that the said lever 2 and the point-rail C move with each other. A second lover I, which extends transverse the line including said lever 2. has one end suitably pivoted to a fixed support in the switch-box and its other end pivotally connected to a rod 5, said levers 4 and 2 being connected by a link 6. The rod 5 extends through a suitable abutment member 7, fixed to or formed as an integral part of the box I), and between said abutment 7 and a suitable head 8 upon the rod and upon the side of said abutment opposite the lever & is a spring 9, which is coiled about the rod. The head 8 is preferably loosely mounted upon the rod 5 and is held in position by means of the nuts 10, said head preferably sliding in suitable guides 11, by means of which the head is prevented from turning.

The pivotal points of the lever 2, the switchrod 3, and. the link 6, as illustrated in Fig. 2, are such that when the point-rail U is in position to cooperate with the rail A the pivotal point 12 between the link 6 and the lever 2 is upon one side of the line of dead-centers, while when said point-rail C is in position to cooperate with the rail B said pivotal point 12 is upon the other side of the line of deadcen tors. The spring 9 tends at all times to force the head 8 away from the abutment 7 and to thus hold the'lever 4k in what may be termed inner position, as illustrated in Fig. 2, so that said spring tends at all times to firmly hold the switch-point C in position to cooperate with one or the other of the rails A and B. It the point-rail C be in position to cooperate with one of the rails A or B and. it be desired to throw the point-rail into opposite position, it is only necessary to positively move the point-rail C such a distance that the pivot-point 12 is carriedslightly across the line of dead-centers. While being thus manually moved the lever 2 and the link 6 act as a toggle and force the lever 4E outwardly, thus compressing the spring 9, and

as soon as the pivot-point 12 crosses the line of dead-centers the spring 9 asserts itself and completes the throw of the switch, the spring firmly holding the point-rail C in its new position.

The present mechanism is also provided with means whereby by a very simple adjustment the switch can be made of such character that the point-rail when held in its position coopcrating with one of the rails A or B can be moved therefrom by a train moving in a given direction and will then be automatically returned to its former position cooperating with the said rail, it being possible to make the point-rail thus cooperate with either of the rails A or B, as may be desired. To this end the lever 2 has arms 13 and 14, which eX- tend, respectively, upon opposite sides of the pivot-point 12, each of these arms being provided with means, such as the bolt-opening 15, whereby the link 6 can be attached to either of said arms, this link being detachably connected to the lever 2 at the pivotpoint 12. WVhen it is desired to cause the point-rail C to cooperate with only the rail A, the link 6 is connected to the arm 13, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The bolt-opening 15 (which becomes the pivotal point between the link 6 and the lever 2) is so located that when the point-rail C is moved away from its position cooperating with the rail A by the wheelflange of a car coming from the right as the parts are shown in Fig. 6 the said pivotal point between the link 6 and the lever 2 will not be thrown to the line of dead-centers, although the lever 4 will of course be thrown outwardly, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 6, and the spring 9 will be compressed during the movement of the point-rail C away from the said position. Therefore the pivotal point between the lever 2 and the link 6 not having been thrown as far as the line of dead -centers as soon as the wheel-flange leaves the point-rail C the spring 9 acts to return the point-rail to normal position cooperating with the rail A. Preferably the point-rail C, the rail A, and the guard-rail a are so positioned with relation to each other that when the link 6 is connected to the arm 13 the rail A arrests what may be termed the opening movement of the point-rail C before the pivotal point between the lever 2 and the link 6 is brought to the line of dead-centers, so that the return of the point-rail C to its initial position cofiiperating with the rail A is assured. Of course should it be desired to hold the point-rail G normally in position cooperating with the rail B (instead of the rail A, as just described) the link 6 would be connected to the arm 14 instead of to the arm 13. It will be manifest that the lever 2 and link 6 constitute a toggle.

It will be noted that while the points 12 and 15 are the same distance from the point of connection between the lever 4 and the link 6, so that said link 6 can be readily connected at either the point 12 or 15, the point 15 is in a line extending at an angle to the line including the point 12 and the pivot-point between the support 1 and the lever 2, whereby the distance between the said last-mentioned pivot-point and the point 15 is greater than the distance between the pivot-point 12 and the said pivot-point between the support 1 and the lever 2. Therefore in the movement of the point-rail C as heretofore described the lever A is swung through a greater are when the link 6 is connected at the point 15 than is the are through which said lever A is swung when the link 6 is connected at the point 12. Consequently when the link 6 is connected at the point 15 the spring 9 is during the movement of the switch-point C placed under greater tension than it is placed by the movement of the said switch-point C when the link is connected at the point 12. Thus although the same spring 9 is used in both of the previously-described arrangements of the switch mechanism and no adjustment of this spring is necessary the spring can be sufficiently weak to enable the switch-pointCto be readily manually moved when the link 6 is connected at the point 12, while this same spring exerts a much greater tension when the link 6 is connected at the point 15. Thus the switch-point C can be readily thrown by the motorman, although in the other arrangement of the parts the switch-point is firmly held in position to cooperate with one or the other of the rails A or B.

WVe are aware that minor changes in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of our device can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without in the least departing from the nature and principle of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is

1. In a switch mechanism, the combination with a point-rail, of a toggle, and a spring operating thereon, one of the elements of said toggle having means whereby the other element thereof can be secured to said first-mentioned element at a given point, and a portion extending laterally from said point and provided with means whereby the other element of said toggle can be secured thereto; substantially as described.

2. In a switch mechanism, the combination with a point-rail, of a lever, connection between said lever and said point-rail, a laterally-extending arm upon said lever, a link adapted to be connected to either said lever proper or to said laterally extending arm thereof, and a spring acting upon said lever; substantially as described.

3. In a switch mechanism, the combination with a point-rail, of a lever connected thereto and provided with a laterally-extending arm,

a second lever, a spring connected upon said second lever, and a link between said levers and adapted to be connected to either said first-mentioned lever proper or to said arm extending therefrom; substantially as described.

4. In a switch mechanism, the combination with a point-rail, of a lever connected thereto, a second lever lying in a line intersecting the line including said first-mentioned lever, a link connecting said levers, and a spring acting against said second lever; substantially as described.

5. In a switch mechanism, the combination with a point-rail, of a lever connected thereto, a second lever extending in a line transverse said first-mentioned lever, a link connecting said levers, an abutment, a rod connected to said second lever and extending through said abutment, a head upon said rod, guides in which said head is slidable, and a spring about said rod and interposed between said abutment and said head; substantially as described.

6. In a switch mechanism, the combination with a rail, a second rail, and a point-rail adapted to cooperate with either of said other rails, of a power member, operative connection between said power member and said point-rail, and means whereby said power member can, on the one hand, be so connected to said point-rail that it can serve to throw said point-rail from a position cooperating with one of said other rails to a position cooperating with the other thereof, and can, on the other hand, be so connected to said pointrail that upon movement of said point-rail from its position cooperating with one of said other rails said power member serves to return said point-rail to its said last-mentioned position, said connection including means whereby, without adjustment of said power member, when said power member is connected to said point-rail for returning the latter to its position cooperating with a given rail, said power member exerts greater :force than it does when it is connected to said pointrail to throw said point-rail from its position cooperating with one of said other rails to its position cooperating with the other thereof; substantially described.

7. In a switch mechanism, the combination with a rail, a second rail, and a pointrail adapted to cooperate with either of said other rails, of a lever, connection between said lever and said pointrail, a second lever, a spring operating upon said second lever, and a link between said levers and adapted to be connected to said first-mentioned lever at any of a plurality of points lying in an are having as a center the point of connection between said second lever and said link; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aflix our signatures, in the presence of two witnesses, this 2d day of April, 1904. I

CLARENCE E. IRWIN. WVILLIAM A. BENNETT. l Vitnesses:

Games P. Moon's, Gnonein BAKEWELL. 

